MPs also cautioned FinMin against any move to legalise Bitcoin and wanted the government to look into the vulnerability of this instrument.

The panel fears that Bitcoin could become a parallel instrument for cycling black money and dodgy transactions.

NEW DELHI : A meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance on Thursday saw many members across the political divide razing questions about the Bitcoin mode of financial transactions. Members feared that it could become a parallel instrument for cycling black money and dodgy transactions and also a source for terror financing, sources said. MPs also cautioned the finance ministry officials present at the meeting against any move to legalise Bitcoin and wanted the government to look into the vulnerability of this instrument.

Sources said BJP member Kirit Somaiya raised a series of questions about Bitcoin and asked the officials why the government was being ambivalent about this instrument, neither clarifying whether it was a legally permissible instrument or not. He is also learnt to have demanded to know whether officials are properly briefing the prime minister about the flipside of this instrument. While expressing similar concerns Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi, according to sources, said “today data is the new oil and Bitcoin is the ransom finance platform.”

The meeting also saw many members questioning whether the government’s push for digital economy was being backed with a fool-proof cyber-security arrangement, especially given the recent spate of hacking globally, and whether enough internet connectivity across the rural sector was provided to ensure the poor are not affected. BJD member Bhartuhari Mahtab is learnt to have asked “how can the government decide whether an individual must use cash, credit cards or other modes of transactions.”

Many members also asked officials to explain whether the recent incidents — such as surge in the evidently well-funded stone-pelting enterprise in J&K, the increasing incidents of terror attacks— have negated the very stated reasons for demonetisation of notes. The officials avoided direct responses.